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Loretta Murphy, manager of Drakes Bay Oyster Co., serves a line of customers that snakes out the front door on Monday, June 30, 2014, near Inverness, Calif. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the company's case, leaving the shellfish operation in legal limbo. (Frankie Frost/Marin Independent Journal)

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Lorena Pablo hoses down the dock at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company as oystermen load boats in the background on Monday, June 30, 2014, near Inverness, Calif. Pablo has worked for the farm for 15 years.

Businesses that sell Drakes Bay Oyster Co. goods have filed for a temporary restraining order with the District Court of the Northern District of California to keep the operation open.

Attorneys representing the operation say the legal filing represents a new argument -- different from the one rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court last month -- to keep the oyster farm open.

The Thursday filing asserts that when Ken Salazar, the interior secretary at the time, announced he would allow a 40-year lease to expire, he did so in a vacuum without looking at evidence.

"This is a case about the manner in which secretary Salazar went about making the decision," said attorney Stuart G. Gross, who is leading the effort. "The government ignored legal requirements and said its discretion was unbridled by the law."

Owner Kevin Lunny said he had planned to close the operation at the end of the month.

Former U.S. congressman Paul "Pete" McCloskey of Cotchett, Pitre, & McCarthy, LLP and former state assemblyman Bill Bagley of Nossaman, LLP, are also lending legal help. A judge is expected to issue a ruling on the request early next week.

The Tomales Bay Oyster Co, a plaintiff in the case, stated in the legal filing it stands to lose up to $400,000 a year if the Drakes Bay is shut down. While Tomales Bay Oyster Co. grows oysters itself, it depends on Drakes Bay when customer demand at their retail operations on shores of Tomales Bay outstrips what they can grow.

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Margaret Grade of Sir and Star, Osteria Stellina, Saltwater Oyster Depot, Café Reyes, the Hayes Street Grill also join in on the filing along with the Alliance for Local Sustainable Agriculture.

Amy Trainer, executive director of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, said the filing lacks merit.

"This lawsuit is another desperate attempt to avoid acknowledging that Drakes Bay Oyster Company's contract expired over 19 months ago, it has made millions of dollars rent-free off our national park wilderness area, and it has no legal right to continue operating in our national park wilderness at Drakes Estero," she said in a statement. "Nobody likes a sore loser, instead of accepting 'no,' they filed a meritless lawsuit that delays the inevitable closure and prolongs the much-needed healing in our community."

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